Road Racing Grand Prix Series USATF-NE home page

Road Race Championship Guidelines

To be eligible to serve as a USATF New England Championship, a race must meet the following requirements:

  1. SANCTION
    The race must be USATF sanctioned (RRCA sanction/insurance alone does not suffice for a New England Championship). The USATF sanction provides a $2,000,000 comprehensive general liability insurance which covers the organization putting on the event, all sponsors connected with the event, all agencies in which the event is taking place, and all volunteers in the event. Certificates of Insurance will be provided upon request. The sanction application will be sent to the race director.

    Races that have their own insurance coverage or insurance through RRCA that meets USATF minimum requirements, need only pay the USATF New England portion of the sanction fee, plus a $50 national fee (reducing the sanction cost by approximately two-thirds). Such races must notify the USATF-NE office of the RRCA or race coverage at least 45 days prior to the event as well as submit a Certificate of Insurance from RRCA or the insurance carrier naming both USATF and USATF-New England as additional insured. This certificate must be submitted to the office at least two weeks prior to the event.
    In obtaining a USATF sanction, the event agrees to conduct the event following USATF Rules and competition guidelines. This means, among other responsibilities, that you will take proper safety precautions, medical precautions, and not allow any ineligible athletes to enter and compete in the event.
    If the event awards more than $5000 in individual cash prizes, or any single prize of more than $500, or your event invites foreign athletes, you must also complete the Elite Sanction Addendum (no additional fee).

    All prize money payments must follow USATF-NE guidelines. Those include requiring prize money recipients to have USATF membership or membership in their home federation prior to the event, and not paying prize money to scholastic or collegiate athletes. (If an ineligible runner is "in the money", the monies should drop to the next eligible competitor.
    The USATF-NE office will verify eligibility and team scoring positions following the event, as well as summarize all team money winnings for a single check to be paid to each club winning money. No prize money is to be distributed on the day of the race. Races will receive a copy of the prize money payment guidelines from the USATF-NE office.

  2. COURSE
    The course must be certified by the USATF Road Running Technical Committee. The USATF-New England office has a list of qualified course measurers, and the state certifier can assist in finding a measurer or guide the race's measurer for new measurements. The race website should include a course map. Road relays must include the distance and exchange location for each leg (five or six legs, and no runner may run more than one leg).
    A USATF-NE banner must be placed in a prominent location at the start and finish areas.

  3. INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM ELIGIBILITY
    Prize money award winners must be eligible to receive prize money - no high school or collegiate runners. Indivdual winners must have current individual USATF membership prior to the race to score in the Grand Prix as an individual or for a team. Team prize money in championship events must be restricted to current USATF-NE member clubs only, though out of association and corporate teams may appear in the team scoring and receive other awards. It is suggested that individual prize money be restricted to New England association members.

  4. ENTRY FORM
    A draft of the entry form, or a preview of the website must be submitted for review to the USATF-NE office at least 90 days prior to the event.
    The entry form must contain the following information:
  5. REFEREE
    A referee, who should be a certified USATF official and familiar with road racing rules, must be appointed prior to the race. The referee deals with protests or rules questions. The referee may not be the race director. USATF-NE can assist in obtaining a referee.

If your race is designated as a Championship/Grand Prix event, USATF-New England will:

RESULTS

The official time is "gun time" and not "net time" for those events using transponder timing with both start and finish recorders.
Results and team scoring must be posted by official / gun time both on race day and online.
USATF-NE requires that full results be available within 24 hours of the race. Results must include overall name, place, time, age/division, place in age group, club, and city/state.
A complete list of all finishers, listing overall place, time, place in age group, age, name, city/state, and club must be available by 9:00 a.m. the day following the event.

RESULTS TO BE PROVIDED BY THE TIMING COMPANY IN PAPER FORMAT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE RACE:

  1. Individual results:
  2. Team results:

Team scoring:

In races 10 km and shorter scoring is based on the aggregate times of:

In races over 10 km and under 30 km scoring is based on the aggregate times of:

In races of 30 km and over scoring in all divisions is the aggregate times of the top three finishers
(age division teams may include individuals in older individual age divisions).

Notes: